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The Importance of Optimism Essay
The importance of keeping optimistic
The importance of keeping optimistic
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“Chasing Optimism in the Face of Challenges”
Chasing the Light Leads You Out of the Dark Having to face numerous challenges in life is inevitable and the ways people surpass them vary. However, what is one significant goal that a person must strive for in order to have a satisfying achievement in the end? The answer is optimism. Optimism is one key factor in facing the hardships, the difficulties, and the challenges that are brought upon those who are willing to strive on. For some, it is not an easy task to be in the mindset of having positive beliefs while also having anxiety or fear about challenges they have to approach. For some, their environment, the people surrounding them, or even their own brain can prevent people from achieving a state of content that is required to reach a goal.
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Sometimes people need to chase self-love and self-understanding before they can go on the journey of chasing optimism. That said, self-experience leads the way to optimism. I myself have long-struggled, trying to surpass challenges that were bestowed upon me; at times I have only been able to see the possible negative outcomes. I have suffered, and still suffer, from an anxiety disorder that led me to overthink every precise detail of every event I had to do, and then overthink it after I had done it. It was nothing but over-interpretive thoughts and self-loathing from being so insecure. The challenge that I faced was learning to cope with my mental disorder and refusing to be consumed by
Optimism was an attractive to many because it answered a profound philosophical question: if God is omnipotent and benevolent, then why is there so much evil in the world? Optimism provides an easy way out: God has made everything for the best, and even though one might experience personal misfortune, God (via your misfortune) is still helping the greater good.
There’s optimism in all literature known to man if not optimism then it would be pessimism. They are the basis of any literature work. It’s found in many books and poems today. In the novel Fahrenheit451 by Ray Bradbury evaluates the theme of optimism. The author Ray Bradbury writes about a guy named Montag who is in a society where firemen burn houses instead of putting fires out. Montag seeks out the good in the books which are banned in this dystopian society where knowledge is forbidden to rise from society. He and other literature seekers pave the way for him to learn knowledge and the freedom of thinking which is against the law in this society. Montag falls in love with books so much that he tries to find someone who can teach him about the books and how important they are to life. The world would fall apart without knowledge no one would have a clue on what to do or how to eat since they don’t have that knowledge at hand. Optimism can also be found in the William Ernest Henley’s “Invictus”, Freedom to Breathe” by Alexander Solzheitsynand and in the speech “The Nobel acceptance by Elie Wiesel.
Optimism is a hopefulness for the future. People who are optimistic generally expect the best from situations. Overall, optimists tend to be healthier than pessimists. Optimism can aid in maintenance of psychological health when faced with physical health problems. This claim is evident with Bob Salvini in the Young at Heart film. Bob, having looked death in the eyes multiple times, managed to pull through when the odds were against him. Bobs strong will and optimism for live and his situation helped him live happily for as long as he did, before he unfortunately died in May of 2006. While still in the ICU, Bob stayed positive and was determined to make the show in less than three weeks. Sadly, Bob passed away the night before the show (Walker & George,
The importance dispositional optimism as a facilitator of well-being, positive health, flourishing, and quality of life has been documented in the positive psychology literature. Dispositional optimism evaluated by the LOT-R is a positive personality trait characterized by favorable personal future expectation (Scheier et al., 1994). It has been emphasized that optimism is a malleable personality trait and that pessimists can become optimists by utilizing techniques such as positive psychology interventions (Carver et al., 2009; Seligman, 2011). In contrast to traditional psychological interventions, positive psychology interventions have a strong focus on cultivating positive personality traits including dispositional optimism.
We all have special goals and things we aspire to be. Often times, things do not occur exactly how we want them to. Those types of situations can leave us feeling defeated, especially when they go in direct opposition of what we desire. However, thinking pessimistically will only make that situation worse. It is essential to think of that hint of positivity in what you think may be completely negative. Doing this can make the seemingly atrocious events in life a lot more tolerable. You can drastically modify those unfavorable outcomes, even when it feels as if the world is crashing down on you, by taking a positive view of its effects and realizing that everything is meant to happen for a specific reason.
Firstly, people who show an optimism bias feel more happy and satisfied with their life. These people are also more in control of and engaged in their life’s goal, they will not just think about happy thoughts and wait for life to pass, instead they will be engaged in a meaningful life and do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals. They are also less likely to give up on a difficult situation and will cope with it. These are people who will not wait for the rain to pass but who learn to dance in the rain in order to fulfil their life’s goal. Unrealistic optimism shows an increased well-being and happiness. With this increased well-being, unrealistically optimistic people are also more able to pick themselves up after a major life
It has become widely accepted that optimism serves as a predictor of positive health outcomes (Rasmussen, H., Scheier, M., & Greenhouse, J., 2009). One particular study assessed the role of optimism and pessimism in children and adolescents. This study revealed the importance of developing optimism in children as it serves as a protective factor, not just in daily life hassles, but in medical complications as well. Furthermore, having an optimistic outlook on the future serves as a predictor of better medication and medical treatment adherence in children and adolescence with chronic illnesses. The development of an optimistic mindset development in childhood is particularly important in that it also serves to promote adult well-being (Ey et al., 2004). An additional study assessed the roles of optimism and pessimism on mental health and physical health. The findings from this study emphasize the importance of optimism on mental and physical well-being, which is particularly important for understanding the role of optimism in chronic illnesses, such as HIV
The simple notion that they can achieve something they want allows people to keep finding ways to advance themselves so that they can reach what they want. It also allows people to push themselves so that they can not be complacent with where they are, and show that they are hungry for more success and show that failure is not an option for them. The same study showed that the level of hope for a person can affect their mental health dramatically. They have noticed that people with lower levels of hope have shown weaker work ethics, less social interaction, strong signs of depression, and some have even reported thoughts of suicide.
Just as I always think of having an optimism positively, which make me feel pleasant and hope that I will be better in future, in the same way, people also have different hopes in life from their distinct perspectives. Unlike, predicting brings success in persons’ life; rather, it is an unclear terms that people have. Optimism actually derived from French word optimisme (1737) and from Modern Latin optimus “the best.” Optimism is also like expressing a hopefulness which a person belief that something he or she wish will happen. In contrast, pessimism is a tendency of a person who always think of bad things will happen in the future. Unlike the pessimism, optimism is a belief or tendency to expect that good things will happen. Even though people
Findings consistently related higher hope to better outcomes in physical health, psychological adjustment, psychotherapy, athletics and academics. Individual combinations of pathways demonstrate different degrees of robustness between high and low-hope persons. Individuals with high degrees of hope are adept at exploring plausible alternate routes, whereas, low-hope individuals are less flexible and unlikely to produce alternate routes. The positive psychology model demonstrates benefits, from tracing the source of positive emotion, as theory applied in therapy suggests emotions are the key to locating underlying sources of feelings. Snyder suggested positive emotions usually flow from perceptions of successful goal pursuit and overcoming problems, finding consistent support for positive emotions occurring in both unimpeded and impeded circumstances. Future research is encouraged in regard to human strengths engendering hope and how people rebound from problem exposure. Snyder viewed Hope as critical for enhancing quality of life and predicting positive outcomes. If the premise of hope were applied, it would allow more people to experience the full range of goal pursuits in
According to Lisa G. Aspinwall and Richard G. Tedeschi’s article The Value of Positive Psychology for Healthy Psychology: Progress and Pitfalls in Examining the Relation of Positive Phenomena to Health there are four assumptions being discussed an researched concerning the field of Health Psychology. First, research on optimism, “a generalized expectancy for positive outcomes that appears to be trait-like and predicts how people cope with stress” (Carver, Scheier, Miller, & Fulford, 2009 :303-311) (Rasmussen, Scheier, & Greenhouse, 2009 :239-256). According to the text optimism has been studied to be associated with better coping for patients suffering from serious illnesses such as the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and breast cancer. Optimism even influences higher recovery likelihoods for patients undergoing serious medical procedures, creating a positive change in immune system functioning and therefore higher survival rates ( Allison, Guichard Fung, & Gilain,
First of all, when going through a difficult time staying optimistic is extremely important. Although, at times it is hard to not be pessimistic. Having a positive attitude when going through difficult times is sometimes hard to do, but can be achieved. When I am going through difficult
While retiring to bed at night, one should say "it was a nice day and now I can have a relaxed sleep. Let the tomorrow be brighter, fresher and cheerful" Psychologists insist on having just positive thoughts. When you recurrently habit yourself with such thoughts, your mind and body are used to the positive vibrations they set in. Once your body is a harbor of positive thinking, you can never run out of hope and optimism.
Positivity gives people hope and the motivation to keep going, therefore it is generally favoured over negative thinking (pessimism). In fact, there has been substantial scientific research done in various cultural contexts that proves that optimism, in its many myriad forms, is related to better outcomes with regards to coping, satisfaction and
These phycologists have wondered if there are more optimist or pessimists in the world. They have made an attempt to find out what approach is greater or better. There are some advantages to optimism because it makes people feel better about life, however, there are also some advantages to pessimism in that looking at the unfortunate side of things can help some pessimists cope better with the world. Both optimism and pessimism have important roles to play the lives of everybody. Being optimist permits people to go after their goals in a positive way, to dream bigger and better dreams, which they can strive to work towards. Optimist also tend to respond better to positive feedback, and a part of being an optimist may be producing this feedback for themselves, example, thinking positive thoughts. While on the other hand, being pessimistic may help people to better acknowledge negative feedback and reduce their natural anxiety to perform better. Once again, part of the reason why pessimist generates negative thoughts is that it helps them perform a lot better. People tend to utilize both optimism and pessimism in order for them gain out of their advantages. People who are mainly concerned with growth or advancement often manifest an optimistic view, whereas those who are concerned with safety and security, or avoiding negative outcomes, focus more on pessimism in order to improve their